Brett is a real estate Partner at Hall and Hall, one of the oldest and most prestigious rural real estate firms in the United States. Founded in 1946, they specialize in investment-grade land—ranches, farms, and recreational properties that are treated as serious financial assets rather than just rural acreage. Brett is a fourth-generation native Texan raised on a ranch in North Central Texas. He resides south of Weatherford, Texas, on the Brazos River with his wife Molly and two daughters. He attended The University of Texas at Austin and Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. Brett earned a bachelor’s degree with a binary major in finance and real estate law with other minor emphasis on tax accounting.
Brett has spent most of his professional career selling ranches in north, central, and west Texas. His expertise is in hunting and recreational investment properties, high fence game ranch operations, operational farms, and cattle ranches. His experience includes ranching, general contracting in commercial and residential construction, land and wildlife management, and brokering unique transactions with creative marketing and financing options.
As a farm and ranch broker, as well as being a ranch owner himself, Brett knows the importance of taking care of clients in an ethical, emotional, and practical fashion. He identifies effective communication and dependability as keys to his customer’s satisfaction. Brett provides the guidance, experience, and expertise needed in making what is often a life-altering decision to purchase or sell ranch real estate.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I would love to say I start every day with coffee and reading meaningful literature, followed by 45 minutes of strenuous exercise in my state-of-the-art home gym. The reality is, I travel around 70K miles a year on the road, so there is no typical day for me. I sometimes wake up in a hotel, a cabin, a lodge, or camping in the backseat of my truck on a ranch we are filming, previewing, or showing to a potential buyer. I tend to be in a different place with different tasks every day and little to no routine. Regardless of what I am doing, getting up early, showering, and dressing immediately with the required type of shoes for the first task of the day on my feet always sets the pace for me. If I delay getting dressed and putting on shoes immediately, it affects the pace of the rest of my day.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I tend to obsess, research, and discuss the idea with others who have done something or created something similar. I try not to waste time talking to people about an idea that I know they are not, or would not be interested in. I am a firm believer that you can speak and think things or goals into existence. I also do a basic pros/cons list before taking any action on an idea or discussing it with others. But ultimately, talking to people who have attempted or achieved something similar is a fast track to bringing an idea to reality. When you discuss it with other like-minded individuals, it also may connect you with someone who can help you achieve it, or may partner with you to do something.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The more recent desire from younger generations who may not have grown up in a rural setting but now have a desire to purchase a homestead and implement a self-sustaining lifestyle on land, using new technology integrated with agriculture to make it sustainable. Things like invisible fencing for livestock, solar power, robotics, and different tech-derived automation in conjunction with permaculture, regenerative ag, rotational grazing methods, and utilizing farm-to-consumer mobile apps and technology for direct sale of beef or farm goods to the general public. I think using these technologies is giving a rebirth to the local ag industry, removing big corporate “middle men”, and making family farms and ranches a chance at being viable again. Which ultimately means the next generation can keep their legacy going and preserve land. I am biased, but in my opinion, landownership and being self-sufficient are the greatest forms of freedom.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Making checklists categorized by priority of what needs to happen today. I have found that I am far more productive when I identify the things that are most important to get done in the next 3 hours. I have tried to start implementing my day in 3-hour time blocks. It doesn’t always work in the field when I am on the go, but when I get a day in the office to catch up on paperwork, emails, and tasks, it makes me more productive to dedicate time blocks to different tasks.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Your suspicions that the adults running businesses and the world might be winging things, still learning, and may not have it all figured out, are completely true. No one has it all figured out; a lot of people are winging it to some degree, and everyone was just starting out at some point. So don’t doubt yourself as often, and in the same breath, no matter how many times you succeed, always keep the uncomfortable feelings of “I don’t feel like I belong in the same room with these folks” because it helps keep you humble.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
People are not good at predicting what will make them happy in most areas of life. Most won’t admit it, but most people love the process of something, and ultimately not the product.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Invest time in your spiritual life, people, and their lives. There is a quote that says “Nobody cares how much you know, until they see how much you care”. I think investing time in those things shows people how much you care, and it pays dividends.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I like to spend time on a tractor or equipment. Whether it’s mowing the pasture or doing dirt work. There is something about operating equipment that is like therapy to me. The other is cleaning and organizing. It seems most often that when I am overwhelmed, it is because I am unorganized.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Answer the phone when people call. I do this by answering the phone, even when it is not a good time to talk. Even if you just answer and let them know you can’t talk at the moment, but you will call them back shortly. If you miss a call, make it a point to call back as quickly as possible. I don’t think it matters what business you are in; being available and willing to discuss something is a cornerstone, and it will inevitably grow your business.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Taking on a client and a listing to sell their ranch when I knew it was not a fit, and did it anyway because I just wanted to “win”. I walked away from it later, but the client was frustrated, and the deal was unsuccessful. I learned to trust my gut, stick to my knowledge and method of valuations in markets that I know. Winning a battle doesn’t always win the war.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Create an app or database specifically for raw land with assumable financing. Whether you use AI to search and populate the app or allow landowners to post their deals to the site. Assumable notes on land are less common and can be hard to find. Making a marketplace that focuses only on that, or market place for private lenders to offer creative ways to structure purchasing land. A rise in interest rates has made any land loans that are assumable a strong commodity (I do believe there are a few private lending platforms that already exist, but there are always ways to make something better).
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Grammarly, I use it to review things I write because I generally have terrible grammar and spelling.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
A last-minute opportunity to upgrade a flight to first class. I rarely fly first class, if ever, but it was the best $106 I have spent in a long time.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Spending so much time on the road, I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts. I am not much on listening to sports or even news for the most part. But I have yet to listen to one of Jordan Peterson’s podcasts and not have it change my perspective on at least one aspect of the subject matter he discusses. His perspective on religion, life, and society, in my opinion, is genuine, honest, and sometimes profound. I enjoy the discussions he engages in that challenge what I think or thought I believed. Sometimes it changes my position, and sometimes it reinforces my initial belief to another degree, and I think that is valuable.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I have small kids at home still, so the only movies that have played in our house have been animated or kid movies. I have not watched a new movie or finished an episode of any series I can remember in probably years. In no way am I trying to be cliché, but if I had time to watch a movie start to finish, it would most likely have to be in a hospital bed. However, I do know most of the words to Moana and can quote almost all of Olaf’s lines in the Frozen movies.
Key learnings
- Everything revolves around people, perceptions, and interactions
- Answering questions in writing about your own opinions and thoughts, and what’s valuable to you, is a healthy exercise